Letter-box



(No Mcdel.)

E. G. HELLER.

LETTER BOX. No. 391,710. Patented Oct. 23, 1888.

In i

VKAZ/ Z,

llnirrn mares arnnr when.

ELI GEORGE HELLER, OF HASTINGS, NEBRASKA.

LETTER -BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,710, dated October23, 1888.

Application filed January 16, 1888. Serial No. 260,834. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELI GEORGE HELLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hastings, in the county of Adams and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Boxes; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to letter-boxes which are ordinarily placed atthe doors of rooms, halls, or offices, and especially to boxes of thissort which are constructed and arranged to be opened by the opening ofthe hall-door or the room-door, but to remain closed so long as saiddoor is closed.

The object of my invention is to provide for inverting the box at will,so that either end may become the open top, each end being alsoconstructed to receive and hold a plate,which closes it when said end isused as the bottom.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view from within the room of an opendoor,a door-frame, and a letter-box embodying my invention. Fig. 2represents an enlarged detail perspec tive View of the box, taken frombehind, the plate which closes the top or bottom being removed. Fig. 3represents a detail view of this plate. Fig. 4: represents a verticalsection of the box,taken on a plane through the two lugs for holdingsaid movable plate,and looking toward the closed side of the box, themovable plate being at the bottom thereof. Fig. 5represents a horizontalsection on the line 00 m of Fig. 4..

A designates a door; B, the jamb, to which it is hung; 0, theletter'box,which is stamped from a single sheetof metal,or cast from metal, andprovided at its corners with flat perforated lugs c, for allowing saidbox to be fastened to said jarnb by screws d. Said box is closed infront and at one side, e, but open at the rear, where the jamb acts as awall, and at the other side, f, the latter being presented toward thedoor, so as to be closed thereby so long as the door is not opened. Theopening of the door allows access to the interior of the box through theopen side f thereof. The top and bottom of said box consist of a plate,9, and a plate, h, which extend from the front of the box part of theway back to the jamb, leaving an opening, i or j, in each instance nextto the latter. WVhen a door opening inward to the left is used, as shownin Fig. 1, the opening 2 is the upper one, through which letters andother mail matter are dropped into the box. The lower opening, j, isclosed by a removable plate, E, which fits under a lug, k, formed on theinner face of the front of the box just above the bottom thereof. Theinner edge of said removable plate may be in the outline of an isoscelestriangle, broad in the base and truncated at the point, where it fitsunder said lug 76, as shown, or it may extend through a hole in the boxat the same point designated for the lug it; but this shape is notessential, it "being necessary only that the removable plate shouldcover the opening 7' and be reliably held in position to do so. Toinsure this last, a flange, Z, is turned upward at the edge of lowerplate, It, forming the bottom of the box, and the removable plate E ismade to fit against the front of the box, the closed side 6, and thesaid flange Z, as well as the jamb B. The plate g is provided with asimilar downwardly-facing flange, m, and the upper end of the front ofthe box is provided with a lug, arranged like lug 7c. The removableplate E slips under this lug 7s, and is held thereby when the box isinverted, the flange m, then upwardly facing, aiding said lug and thefront and closed side of said box, in holding said removable plate E inplace, so that it will close the lower opening, 2', the opening j, thenat the top, allowing the mail to be dropped through it into said box.WVhen the box is in this latter position, it is attached to the otherdoorjamb and used with a door opening to the left, the similarconstruction of the box at top and bottom making it easily reversiblewithout change of parts.

The box being outside of the room or hall which the door gives accessto, the mail-carrier can easily drop in the mail through the opening 6or 9', which is uppermost, and cards or other small articles may besimilarly deposited; but no one can have access to the contents of thebox without opening the roomdoor or hall-door B, whether that door opensto the right or the left, and in either case the box is opened as soonas the door'is.

Having thus described my invention, what I hall-door which closes saidside opening when claim as new,

and desire to secure by Letters said door is closed and opens it whensaid door :5 Patent, is is opened, substantially as set forth.

1. A letter-box having an opening at top 3. A letter-box having at eachend an openand another at the bottom, in combination ing. a lug, kor 7c,and a flange, Z or m,in com- With a removable plate adapted to closeeither i bination with a plate, E, arranged substanof the openings, asshown, the box being pro- 1 tially as set forth. Vided with fixed lugsfor holding said platein In testimony whereof I affix my signature inplace, substantially as set forth. presence of two witnesses.

2. A letter-box having an opening at top ELI GEORGE HELLER. and bottomand an opening in one side, in combination with a plate which closeseither] the top or bottom at will, and a room-door or Witnesses:

T. J. Down, FRANK DEFENDORF.

